Rugby World Cup reflections

IT was universally hailed as the best Rugby World Cup ever staged. Now as the bunting is packed away, the players look to rest their weary limbs and impoverished fans pause to catch their breath, here's a cool, calm and considered look at the pluses and minuses of France 2007.

IT was universally hailed as the best Rugby World Cup ever staged. Now as the bunting is packed away, the players look to rest their weary limbs and impoverished fans pause to catch their breath, here's a cool, calm and considered look at the pluses and minuses of France 2007.

Biggest surprise

It has to be England's roller-coaster of a ride through the emotions all the way to the final.

Derided as the worst world champions in history by even their own fans when jetting out to France, we feared the worst in the wake of a humiliating 36-0 defeat at the hands of South Africa just five weeks ago.

But from the depths of despair, Brian Ashton and his self-styled grumpy old men, somehow managed to flick a collective V-sign at their worldwide army of critics and stage one of the greatest comebacks ever witnessed in any sport.

What Ashton and his band of brothers achieved here was even more of an accomplishment than England's World Cup triumph of 2003.

Take a bow boys, you earned it.

Biggest plus

The French proved utterly magnificent hosts. Attendances were stunning, witness the virtual full house that turned out to watch Namibia v Georgia and ask yourself where else in the world would that happen?

A word too for the fans who turned up in their thousands. They came from all corners of the globe to party and celebrate unity rather than division and were content to leave all the aggression where it belongs . . . on the pitch.

A lasting personal memory is the sight of six English yeoman in full Michael Caine-style Zulu regalia, pith helmets and all, stocking up beer for three burly Afrikaners skimpily attired in leopard skin loin-cloths outside a chilly Stade de France on Saturday. Wonderful.

Biggest disappointment

Sadly, we've come to expect the grand corporate rip-off that accompanies events of this magnitude and France 2007 proved no less resistant.

Air fares and hotel room rates suddenly went through the collective roof between September and October and that financial pain was then compounded for thousands of stranded English and South African fans when French transport unions decided to go on strike just 48 hours before the final.

Biggest impact

No contest about this one, Sebastien Chabal. Never was the phrase `impact player' more appropriate.

Of course, Sale Sharks fans have known all about Chabal's game-changing powers for years but it took the biggest tournament of them all for his countrymen to latch on to the secret.

In turn, `The Caveman' with his wild, flowing mane of hair, unkempt beard and serious Gallic frown came to be adopted as the icon of the 2007 World Cup.

Player of the tournament

There were many notable contenders, not least Argentina's genius of a fly-half Juan Martin Hernandez, but in the end, the vote has to go to South Africa's very-own Cheetah man.

If Bryan Habana's record eight tries and electrifying pace weren't enough to win the vote, his dazzling smile and sheer joie de vivre were enough to light up the gloomiest of arenas.

It also helps that as a human being, he's also the classiest of acts, as evidenced by his sympathetic handshake and words of consolation to a stricken Jason Robinson as the England legend hobbled off the field for the last time in the final.

Biggest shock

No doubts about this one, it has to be France's thrilling 20-18 quarter-final win over the All Blacks in Cardiff which sent the runaway favourites back home to navel gaze and chat to the sheep for four more years.

And, having swallowed their own hype, the shell-shocked Kiwis in turn looked for a convenient scapegoat and found one in English referee Wayne Barnes who was subjected to personal abuse and even death threats on Kiwi websites.

Biggest moaners

That honour has to be shared by our Antipodean friends, which made it all the sweeter that it was England, yet again, who dumped the swaggering Aussies on their backsides.

"Everyone hates the English," intoned Aussie rugby chief John O'Neill before the quarter-final. Maybe John, but there's nothing we like better than putting you and your compatriots in your smug place.

Unlikely hero

Hands up, who had heard of Andrew Sheridan seven weeks ago? While within the game, the Goliath of a Sale and England prop was highly revered, it has to be said that 18½st prop forwards are not normally your average tabloid fodder.

All the changed within the space of 80 magical minutes in Marseille when the battling brickie they call `Big Ted' decided to take on the Aussie pack on his own . . . and win.

It was the finest demonstration of destructive forward power seen in the tournament.

Magic moments

The template was set on opening night when Argentina stunned hosts France at the Stade de France to set the scene for what was the most open World Cup ever.

Fiji's life-affirming victory over Wales may have been the most open, exciting match but there were so many other sights to savour.

Take the fearsome Tongan forwards in full flight, the tension of England's knockout stage wins over Australia and France, the unconfined joy of Argentina's march to the semi-finals, the shock of the All Blacks demise in Cardiff.

A word too for the South Africans who waited half and hour while Fiji embarked on a deserved lap of honour in the wake of their epic quarter-final clash and were still there to clap them off the field.

The Boks proved a class act both on and off the field.

How world order changed

Before it all kicked off, the talk was of how the International Rugby Board, the game's governing body, would look to slim down the World Cup to a 16-country tournament when it is staged in New Zealand in four years time. Heaven help us if that is still the case today.

Surely variety, change and the sheer shock of the new is what is the lifeblood of any sport and if the sight of Fiji and Argentina charging through to the knockout stages isn't a cause for the good then the game is up for us all.